Before we begin, let us start with a word of prayer.
Lord, our hearts are full of thanksgiving to You, because through the cross You have completed the eternal will of God. Through the cross, work in us today, that we also might accomplish the will of God.
Do not only allow us to know the doctrine of the cross, but to know the meaning of the cross and to experience the working of the cross in our daily lives. Let us truly learn how to bear our own cross and follow You.
May the cross reveal in us those things that hinder the work of God. May the cross get rid of the dominion of the enemy, so that Your will may be accomplished among Your people.
Lord, our hearts have this desire. May You recover Your work in the church today, that we do not live and serve by our own natural strength. Deliver us from all incorrect conditions and bring us into the correct condition in You.
Lord, during this short time, continue to reveal to us Your way, so that we can walk correctly in Your footsteps, and so that this truth will become our way. May Your Holy Spirit lead us into this reality.
Lord, we commit this time into Your merciful hands. We ask for Your presence. We give You all worship. We pray in the precious name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
In these three afternoon sessions, we have been sharing on the cross and service. On the first afternoon, we shared how the cross allows us to have a renewed mind.
This renewed mind is the mind of Christ. From the book of Philippians, we see that the mind of Christ is the mind of the cross. Therefore, in service, our minds must be transformed.
If our minds are taken over by things of the world, then our service resembles that of the world. If our minds are under the dominion of the enemy, then our service is actually an opposition to God. We need this transformation in our minds.
Yesterday afternoon, we mentioned that in service we have to have the experience of resurrection life. We spoke on two important aspects of the cross: on one hand, death; on the other hand, life.
The most important experience is death, and the most important result is life. We experience the cross in order that we might attain to resurrection. Death is but a process; it is life that God wants. Yet this process of death is important.
Brothers and sisters, we know that this death is indeed a mysterious death. I think not enough brothers and sisters truly understand this death, and so in our lives and service we have many substitutes. Some forms of death are but false death.
The apostle tells us in Colossians 2:23:
These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion, and self-abasement, and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.
Asceticism and self-made religious practices are not true death, because the death of Christ results in resurrection. We spoke of this yesterday.
This afternoon, we want to touch on another point: in service, we need the release of the spirit. Let us take a look at three portions of Scripture.
First, let us look at Romans 7:6.
But now we have been released from the law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.
This speaks of serving in newness of the spirit. Next, please turn to 2 Corinthians 3:6.
Who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Here it speaks of the Spirit. New Testament service is a service of the Spirit. Please turn back to Romans 1:9.
For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness, as to how unceasingly I make mention of you.
Paul says that he serves God in his spirit. These three passages of Scripture tell us clearly that service has to do with the spirit. This means that in service, we have to use our spirit, and our spirit has to be released. Our spirit needs freedom.
Oftentimes in service, we have this misconception. We think of service in the church as being divided into the spiritual and the outward.
We think that preaching, praying, and hymn leading require the spirit. But when someone cleans, cooks, takes care of the gardening, or sets up chairs, we think these things are merely outward. I think this is a misconception.
In the Lord’s church, all service is spiritual. Not only are preaching, hymn leading, and praying spiritual; even if you are simply cleaning, cooking, or setting up chairs, this requires the spirit.
Sometimes in the church, you may feel that you do not receive that much from the preaching, but from the miscellaneous things brothers and sisters do, you actually feel more of the spirit.
In the church, there is no such thing as non-spiritual service. If it is service for God, then it is all within the realm of the spirit. If it is not out of our spirit, then it is not the service that God wants.
Paul tells us that he serves God with his spirit. Therefore, in service, we need to use our spirit, and our spirit has to be released. Brothers and sisters, we need to learn how to serve the Lord with our spirit.
However, in service we find that there are hindrances in our spirit. These hindrances are our flesh and our fallen soul.
Brother Watchman Nee has a very good book, The Breaking of the Outer Man and the Release of the Spirit. I think many of you may have read this book. It is a very peculiar book, and you do not see this type of explanation often. Yet the theme of the book is very important concerning service.
He gives us two examples. He speaks of how a man must be broken in order that the spirit may come out. This word broken was probably originally used by Jessie Penn-Lewis, and it is a good description.
John tells us that unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. A grain has an outer husk that needs to be broken so that the life of the seed might come out.
Another example is given in Mark, where a woman came before Jesus, broke an alabaster jar, and poured the perfume upon our Lord. The alabaster jar had to be broken in order for the perfume to flow.
These are two good examples shown to us in the New Testament. They demonstrate that our outer man has to be broken, and then the spirit can obtain release.
In practice, I have some feeling regarding this. I feel that our spirit and our soul are very intimate. They are not two separate entities, but they are intertwined. Therefore, to separate the two is very difficult.
I like to use another example. One time I came to this place and saw a tree. The tree was tall, but it had died. I looked at it closely to examine why it had died.
There was ivy growing around the trunk. It had grown around the tree and wrapped it. The ivy was flourishing, but the tree was dead.
I felt as though my inner eyes were opened a little. Our soul is kind of like that. It has wrapped around our spirit. Sometimes it wraps so tightly that our spirit is as though dead.
Sometimes, for example, you come before the Lord to pray. You have much feeling within, but you cannot express it. It is as if something were binding it.
The same is true in preaching. When you preach, your spirit has to be free. Sometimes you have feeling within, but you cannot vocalize it.
When I was younger and first came to serve the Lord, there was another co-worker. He was a good brother. He spent much time in prayer.
But his difficulty was that every time he stood up to share, he was very moved and emotional, yet he could not vocalize his feelings. Every time he stood up to share, we were all nervous for him. We saw him struggling with his voice, and he could not express things clearly.
For ten or twenty minutes, it would be like this. I saw him struggling, and I was nervous for him. It felt as though something in his spirit was binding him.
Brothers and sisters, our human soul seems intertwined with our spirit. If it is bound too tightly, our spirit cannot be released, and it is as though dead.
We thank the Lord because this morning our brother described the nature, characteristics, and traits of the flesh very clearly, so that we might know what our flesh is.
But not only does the flesh have these traits; we know that the flesh is like a very hard shell. It hinders our spirit from being released. Therefore, God has to break it through the cross. Our flesh needs to be dealt with.
When this flesh is broken, the spirit can be released. The apostle Paul has explained this clearly. We know that Romans 6 through 8 are very important portions of Scripture.
Chapters 6 and 7 speak of the work of the cross. More broadly speaking, as our brother shared, Romans 5:12 through Romans 8 deals with the acts of sins, the sin nature, and our flesh.
In Romans 7, Paul deals with the flesh and the law. After all these things are dealt with, we come to Romans 8, and there we see the release of the spirit.
This tells us clearly that after the dealings of the cross, the things that hinder the spirit from being released are broken; then the spirit is released.
It seems that the process of God’s working is in this way: first, we see the cross at Calvary; then we see Pentecost and the release of the Spirit.
If this natural man—the soul, this hard shell—is not broken, we will be hindered in our service. We cannot offer God a service that is pleasing to Him.
We know that our soul consists of our emotion, will, and mind. Brother Nee described this well in The Release of the Spirit.
When our thoughts are broken, then the spirit is released. The Spirit can work in our spirit, and through our mind we can share the truth. Then our mind becomes something useful to the Lord.
It is like the example I gave earlier: we may have all these thoughts, but we cannot vocalize them. Our emotions are similar. If our emotions can be broken by the Lord, then the spirit can be released.
Then the Holy Spirit, through our spirit, can recover our emotion. In the book, he gives an example of wanting to weep but not being able to. When our emotions are broken, then the feeling can be expressed.
In our will, it is the same way. If our will is broken, then it is easy for us to be obedient, because our spirit is released and we can be led by the Holy Spirit.
In service, this is a requirement and a truth. The condition of our soul has to go through the cross. The flesh has to be broken.
As we experience the cross, we often find hindrances. Brother Lance gave us many points last night, and Brother Kong gave us many points this morning. I have a few points of my own.
I want to remind you of several important hindrances that we encounter.
First, we cannot see the hand of the Lord at work. This means that we do not accept that the environment we are in is from God.
When we encounter difficulties in our service, we always blame the environment or others. We say, “I cannot do my service well because of him,” or, “The environment does not allow me.”
We do not see the hand of God working in the environment so that our soul might be broken. Our brother mentioned the governing of the Spirit. In all things, we should see the discipline of the Holy Spirit.
Why do we feel that certain brothers or sisters are our difficulty? God knows that we are naturally deficient. It is as if God has put this person in my life to annoy me, but really to break me.
If we can accept this, then our attitude will change. We will not complain, and we will not kick against the goads.
One hindrance is that we do not see God’s hand at work in our environment. It is easy to say these things, but when we encounter the situation, it is so difficult.
No matter how we look at the person, they do not look as though they are God’s will for us. Many times, it is really difficult to submit. But we have to believe that it is God’s hand at work. Only then can we experience the breaking of the cross in our lives.
The second point is that we love ourselves. Many of you know that there is good flesh and bad flesh.
Many times, what we hate is the bad flesh. We say, “I am selfish,” or, “I am so narrow.” We feel that this bad flesh needs to die.
But some people may say, “My humility, my gentleness—these are good things. I may not be as gentle as the Lord Jesus, but I am gentler than most people.” We protect some aspects of the flesh and do not let God deal with them.
You may hear, “This brother is so gentle. He does not need the dealing of the cross.” Do not be envious of him. You have to realize that it may be even harder for him to learn the lesson.
If our natural characteristic is not good, we realize that we need the work of the Lord. But the bad flesh needs to be crucified, as well as the good flesh.
It is common that we love ourselves. There is not anyone who does not love himself. But in the lessons of the cross, if we love ourselves, then it is very difficult.
The third point is self-preservation. The Lord tells us in the Gospels that if we want to carry our cross and follow Him, we have to deny ourselves. If we give up our life, then we will gain life. He tells us not to save our own life.
Many times, we are moved by the love of the Lord. We say, “Lord, I want to learn this lesson.” But then we think about it and say, “No, that is too much.”
We want to learn a lesson, but then we decide that we do not want to learn it fully. I think this is very real in my life.
When I was younger, I felt, “Lord, I want to commit my all to You.” Then I felt, “Oh, that is too much. I will take a little bit of it back.”
So we do not truthfully learn the lessons of the cross. This is a difficulty many of us find as we follow the Lord. We know the truth of the cross, but when we come to learn its lessons, we do not learn them thoroughly enough because we are always looking for self-preservation.
We give one end to the Lord, but we are holding on to the other end. The Lord says, “Give Me your all,” and we say, “We want to keep this little bit.”
Sometimes the lessons of the cross are like when our Lord Himself was crucified. When He was given wine mixed with gall, He tasted it and refused it.
We know that the wine had a numbing effect and would take away pain. In the experience of the cross, our natural self looks for something to comfort us. Therefore, when we learn the lessons of the cross, again, it is often not very thorough.
The fourth point is this: when our Lord Jesus was crucified on the cross, all those below Him were mocking Him, saying, “If You are indeed the Son of God, why do You not come down from the cross?”
The fourth point is: do not come down. If you are on the cross, do not come down.
Our problem is that when others are mocking us, we come down and show them. There is a hymn written very well. It speaks of us being on the altar and not moving. Yet sometimes we are on the altar, scratching and moving around. We do not want to die.
When you are on the cross, do not come back down. This is the example our Lord showed us. These are some hindrances we need to be aware of as we serve the Lord and learn the lessons of the cross.
This afternoon is the last afternoon, and I know that many brothers and sisters want to share their stories. I promised you more time today to share your experiences. But I am going to share a story with you first.
This is an old story. Some of you may have heard it before. These are experiences and lessons I learned in my youth that have stayed within me. I want to share my experience as an example. May the Lord allow us to learn the breaking of the cross.
When I was first called to serve the Lord, I could not speak very well. I was fearful of preaching. When I thought of speaking, I felt a great burden. But when the Lord calls you, how can you not speak?
Especially in those days, I was young. Though I read much of the Bible, I did not have much life and even less experience. Every time I had to speak, I found it difficult.
One time, I was asked to share the gospel. I was so nervous. Several months before that date, I would confine myself, pray, and read the Bible.
After much searching, I found a topic. Regarding that theme, I looked for Bible verses, organized them, and added a few stories. Then I felt ready to share, but I was still fearful.
I prayed all day long. I prayed a lot back then. I spent many hours praying, with no other interests. All my focus was on this message, and I did this for months.
Then the time came. I had to take the train to that location, and the journey was about an hour. In my whole being, I was nervous.
I took my Bible onto the train. I did not look at anything. I found a seat, sat down, closed my eyes, and prayed. I asked the Lord to go with me and give me strength.
I reviewed one aspect of the sermon after another. I had to remember every point because I did not want to get on the stage and forget what I was talking about. I had no experience at that time.
Just as I was feeling nervous, all of a sudden I had a feeling. I knew it was the Lord within me. The Lord said, “Do not speak on this. Speak on that.”
I said, “Lord, I have prepared this sermon for months. I could not sleep and I could not eat, and I finally prepared this sermon. If I do not speak on this and have to speak on that, how can I have time to prepare this new sermon?”
I looked at my watch and had half an hour. I said, “Lord, no, I cannot. I do not have the confidence.” But the Lord said, “Speak on that.” I said, “Lord, I am speaking on this.”
So I was wrestling with the Lord. Then I felt the Lord saying within me, “Well, if you want to go, go, but I am not going to go with you.”
I said, “What, Lord? You are not coming? Then why am I going? Lord, You have to go with me, and I have to speak on what You want me to speak.”
Then all of a sudden, there was no further word. I could not hear anything, and I was even more nervous.
But I was brought up as a Christian, and I was taught to submit to the Lord and to the teaching of the Holy Spirit. I knew that if I did not submit, I could not go on.
I was in such a difficult position. I wanted to speak on this, but if the Lord did not go with me, what was the point? So I had to submit my whole being.
I said, “Lord, I will listen to You. If I die, then I die. You told me to do this.” You do not know how my heart was beating in the next half hour.
As I struggled to prepare for the new theme, I could not come up with anything. Then the train arrived at its destination, and the brothers came to pick me up. They were so joyful to see me, but I was not happy at all.
I came into the meeting place, and it was packed with hundreds of people. Everyone was greeting me, but I had no feeling. I sat there and did not know what to do.
After a while, they started to sing. My heart was beating rapidly. I said, “Lord, have mercy on me. Can I go back and speak on that?” But I could not go back, because I was submitting.
The temptation was so great. I wanted to pull that material back out and preach on it. But I knew that if I did not submit, then I was in trouble.
The singing ended, and they said, “We give the following time to Brother So-and-so.” I struggled to go up.
I thank the Lord—He is gracious. When I stood on that stage, I felt freedom in my spirit. I started to speak on that new theme, and the more I spoke, the freer I became.
If you have experienced the freedom of the Son, you know what that is. I truly felt what is said in John 7:38:
He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water.
The Spirit came down, and out came the words. Even as I was preaching, I was amazed. I said, “Where did these words come from?” Yet the words continued to come out.
I was truly blessed by the Lord in that meeting place. Brothers and sisters, in that example of service, the Lord showed me a little bit about what it means to be broken.
Of course, it was not always this way. If every time were that stressful, I probably would not be here; I would have been crushed for sure.
But at that time I was young, and the Lord was teaching me that service has to be in the spirit. It does not always have to do with your experience or doctrine. This had a great influence on my future service.
Brothers and sisters, if our spirit cannot be released from the flesh, then our service cannot be pleasing to the Lord, and others cannot be supplied.
This is only an example in preaching. In our lives, in our service, and in every circumstance, we need to use the spirit. Our spirit needs freedom and release, and the natural life, the self-life, the soul, has to experience the death of the cross.
I have told my story. Now it is your turn to tell your story. If you have prepared something in your heart, share with us for five or ten minutes.
My sharing today has something to do with what I shared last year, so I want to remind you of what I shared last year.
When I first believed, I was very excited. Whenever I met others, I wanted to share the gospel with them. One time during a conference, we stayed up all night preaching the gospel.
As I was sharing, another brother, whom we thought did not really love the Lord, told me that the person I was speaking with would not understand what I was saying.
I felt uncomfortable at the time, but I felt he was right. I thought that what I was sharing, others would not understand. This caused me to learn how to preach the gospel, and I learned from those younger than me.
This event became a disruption in my life. I did not preach as I did before. I wanted to share words that others could understand.
I realized that my problem was simply talking without caring whether other people understood. Through that brother, the Lord allowed me to learn that I had a strong self-life. I thought I had learned the lesson, but in reality, I had not.
After I believed, I was excited to do things for the Lord. But after a while, I felt dry. After reading books and coming to conferences, I learned that salvation does not only deliver us from death; it allows us to serve God and attain to His eternal purpose.
This revelation caused me to become excited again, as when I first believed. Then I started talking again. During conferences, I spent many hours talking with brothers and sisters in small meetings.
But I discovered that even though what I shared was fervent and correct, there was no response. They had no response toward what I had to say.
I reconciled myself by saying, “The prophets of old preached, and everyone ignored them.” The Lord Jesus also said, “We piped unto you, and ye did not dance; we wailed, and ye did not mourn.”
I put forth my effort, and I knew what I was saying was correct. But the Lord reminded me, “Are you dead or are you alive? Do you have that feeling of death? In the whole meeting, do you feel life or death?”
I confessed to the Lord that there was not that feeling of life in me. It was the same with the meeting.
The Lord continued to remind me: “You speak and speak, and you are not short of breath. Others might not understand, and they may not even have the opportunity to ask a question. If you were a new believer sitting in the audience, would you understand what you are preaching?”
I would preach about the temple, the bride, and many other things, but these things were not explained clearly. I confessed that if I were in the audience, I would not understand myself either.
The Lord reminded me that brothers and sisters are busy, and it is difficult for them to come to the meetings. After an hour of hearing me, what had they gained? I thought to the Lord, “They probably did not gain much.”
Then I was reminded again: “If you really understand what you are preaching, you should be able to explain it simply. If you cannot explain it simply, then you probably do not understand it yourself.”
After thinking about this, and seeing people come and then go, I felt very disappointed. If they did not come in the future, I could not really blame them.
So I learned before the Lord. What I had learned about God’s eternal purpose, I tried to explain in a simple way, and I tried to do so in less than twenty minutes.
Even if I did not explain it clearly, at least they could put up with me for twenty minutes. If I kept my sermon to twenty minutes, it gave them time to ask questions if I was unclear, rather than having me talk for an hour and a half.
Recently, a brother was coming to visit me, but he did not have my contact information. So he asked another brother, “What is this brother like?”
The brother introduced me as the one who came and spoke and whose words were very clear. I thank the Lord, who transformed me from someone who received no response from the audience into someone who could speak clearly.
I knew that the Lord had tried to teach me this lesson earlier, but I had been stubborn. I would debate whether it was because people did not have the heart to hear what I had to say. If I had continued in that way, I probably still would not have known what my problem was.
I thank the Lord. From sharing the gospel to preaching about God’s eternal purpose, I understood that the self-life is very difficult to deal with. Speaking without caring whether others understand is an issue of the self-life.
Recently, the same lesson had to be learned again. I want to be alert in case the Lord wants to teach me the same lesson in a new environment.
Thank you, brother, for your concern. You know I have a heart murmur. I thank the Lord because He has touched me and healed me.
I want to tell you how God has a beautiful plan for all His children. From the moment of our salvation, our Lord supplies us.
I want to share an experience I had in our old church building, before we built the new one. At that time, because I did not have heart problems, I entered into many services.
Many brothers and sisters thought I had a loving heart, that I was patient and submissive, and that I had a pursuit for and love for the Lord. But only I knew.
As Brother So-and-so shared earlier, the good flesh and the bad flesh both have to be dealt with by the cross. The Lord found an opportunity to deal with what others thought was a good thing in my life.
At that time, our meeting place was becoming crowded, so we bought the lot of land next to us. There was a house on that lot, and there were roses in front of it. On our main site, we did not have beautiful flowers.
My husband told me, “We should move these beautiful flowers onto the main church building site.” There were seventy or eighty roses. I dug them up, and my husband prepared the soil.
We all know that wives have to submit to their husbands. So I submitted to him, and with joy I began digging up the flowers.
But to plant them on the new site, we needed good soil. He said, “I will get a truck and get the soil. You prepare the flowers, because there is still a service meeting tonight.”
We emptied the soil onto the new site, and we had to clean the truck in order to return it. My husband said, “We can take it to this car wash and wax place.” I said, “No, let us just rinse it onto the grass here.”
On this point, I was not submissive to my husband, and he submitted to me. I stood on the truck and hosed it down.
After hosing it onto the grass, I thought, “That is grass.” I jumped from the truck onto the grass, and my right knee popped as I landed.
I said, “Praise the Lord.” I kicked my foot and popped my knee back, but I felt pain. My husband said, “It is okay. I will piggyback you home.”
I thought, “I am much heavier than him.” Since I could not walk, I let him piggyback me. But after I got on his back, we both fell over.
He said, “I told you to lose weight, but you did not.” Slowly, I got on his shoulder, and we made it home.
The brothers and sisters knew I had injured myself, so they brought me food and gave me crutches so I could get around. But it caused me to be in despair.
My husband had to prepare meals for me, and then he had people to visit and things to take care of. He said, “I will come home during lunch and fix you lunch. Wait for me to come home.”
So I waited, but after noon, and then one o’clock, he did not come home. I had never used crutches before, but I was really hungry, so I tried them out and went to the refrigerator.
The food was cold, and I could not carry it while using the crutches. I just stood there and looked at the food. I complained, and I was angry.
I said, “When he comes home, I am going to give him a scolding.” Then my children came home in the afternoon. I told them, “Your mother is hungry. Please prepare a meal for me.” They did, and I ate.
Then my husband came home. My temper and anger were up to here, and I scolded him. I said, “What happened? Why did it take you so long?”
He said, “I found a wonderful gospel opportunity, and I could not walk away if this person was not saved.” He forgot about my needs and my infirmity.
The Lord allowed me to see over the span of that week that the things I deemed good in my life were not really good. They were of my old nature.
Through that injury and through that week, I confessed and repented before the Lord. I said, “Lord, all these things are in the past. Let me start at zero. Let me live out Your reality.”
I felt that I had shortchanged the Lord. The expectations of the brothers and sisters were high, and I had let them down. All their praises of me were like trash.
The Lord was gracious toward me, and I was able to walk in one week. I learned in that week how important it is for one to be broken. I can stand here today, and I give the glory and praise to God. Thank you.
Our time really flies. I know brothers and sisters have many things to share. Please continue to share with one another in your localities.
When Brother So-and-so was looking for me last evening, I knew I was in trouble. Our brother shared that in the flesh we are all different. You have your own flesh, and I have my own flesh. But no matter where we find ourselves, it is the same flesh, the same fallen nature.
We are all in the same boat. Thank God, there is one way out for all of us: Christ and Him crucified.
This lesson is a lifelong lesson. There is no shortcut, because God’s work is most thorough. He will not overlook anything. He is very thorough, and His aim is perfection.
We are caught, but thank God, we are caught by the Almighty God. He alone can change us.
I want to share one very important principle that I am still learning: how much room are we willing to give to the Holy Spirit?
On the other hand, the Holy Spirit wants to possess us fully, completely for Himself. With ninety-nine percent given to Him, He will not be satisfied. He is determined to secure one hundred percent of us for Himself.
In the end, He will win us. No matter how often we resist His work, no matter how often we hinder His work, He will persist to the end until He secures one hundred percent of us for Himself.
The Lord Jesus is our perfect example. Before He stepped out into His public ministry, He went to John the Baptist and was baptized by John.
That was a tremendous event, because for the first time God found a man truly after His own heart. God the Father could not help but open heaven and say:
This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
What was the ground the Lord took that caused the Father to declare, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”? What was the ground the Father was looking for?
At that moment, when the Lord took baptism, He surrendered all His will to the Father’s will. That is the kind of servant the Lord is looking for today.
It is not what we can do, but whether we have surrendered our will to Him—absolute surrender to Him. If that ground is found, what can be carried on, and what can be accomplished?
For us, one lesson we are going to learn for the rest of our lives is to surrender our will to Him, because we are such self-willed people.
This spiritual battle is to surrender ourselves. That is a real battle. But in the end, He will win, because of the persistence of the work of the Holy Spirit.
He will not give in to us. He will not give up until that work is accomplished. He will do it, and God will get all the glory.
We are in the same boat, so we need each other to learn these lessons together. Thank God for Him.
We thank the Lord that this afternoon we can gather before Him. I want to apologize to some brothers and sisters who had prepared testimonies to share. We do not have enough time, so I can only ask you to pardon me.
I hope that wherever you come from, when you go home, you will have a chance to share with the brothers and sisters there. We hope that after this conference, the assemblies everywhere may pay attention to these matters and fellowship more concerning them.
May we bring home the grace that we have received in this conference and share it with the brothers and sisters who were unable to be here.
May the churches all over the earth live in the light of the cross, that the power of the enemy and the work of the flesh may be dealt with, and that the will of the Lord may be carried out. May the Lord prepare useful people to wait for His return.
Let us bow down for a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we thank You. The way of the cross is what You have ordained, and this is Your work. You have ordained that all our corrupt nature will be crucified.
May all brothers and sisters bear the marks of Jesus Christ, so that the sentence of death of the Lord Jesus Christ may be manifested in our life and in our service, and that our self may diminish while You Yourself increase.
May the churches and all the saints, through the experience of the work of the cross, give glory to You.
Lord, today is a dark and confused time. We really feel that the word of the cross has been ignored. It seems that the light of the cross has been lost among the churches on earth.
Lord, inspire us with Your own love. Restore Your own work in Your people. May You gain what You should gain, and may we enter into what we ought to enter.
When we see You, may we receive our Lord with great joy. May the Lord continue to work in us. All worship to our Lord. Hear our prayers.
We pray in the precious name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.